Arabic Literature and Translation

Mohammed Ali Ahmed: ‘Can You Hear the Call?’

Egyptian poet Mohammed Ali Ahmed (d. 1977) wrote lyrics for songs by Abdel Halim Hafiz, Shadia, Huda Sultan, and other iconic singers of his era. His poem “هل أنتِ معي؟” was put to music by the Sudanese composer Buri’e Mohammed Dafa’alla (1929-1999) and performed by the great Sudanese singer Abdel Aziz Daoud (1927-1984):

Sudanese singer Abdel Aziz Daoud

By Adil Babikir

This poem first reached my ears on the baritone waves of Abdel Aziz Daoud’s captivating voice. The melody, composed by the legendary musician and oud master Buri’e Mohammed Dafa’alla, was a poem in its own right. It was another masterpiece that helped position “Abu Daoud” and Dafa’alla as one of the most successful duets in the history of Sudanese music.

Their combined talent transformed many poems into timeless songs that elated their audience to ecstatic rapture. I was not totally free from the spell of this song when I started translating the lyrics, by Egyptian poet Mohammed Ali Ahmed. Unlike his famous poems put to songs by Abdel Halim Hafiz and Shadia, which were written in colloquial Egyptian, this piece was written in standard Arabic, with an air of romance that captured the general mood of the 1960s.

Adil Babikir is a Sudanese translator into and out of English & Arabic, living now in Abu Dhabi, UAE. His translations have appeared in Africa World Press, Banipal, Al-Dawha Magazine, and others. His published translations include The Jungo: Stakes of the Earth, by Abdel Aziz Baraka Sakin (Africa World Press, 2015), Literary Sudans: an Anthology of Literature from Sudan and South Sidan (Africa World Press, 2016), Mansi: A Rare Man on his Own Way, by Tayeb Salih (excerpted on Banipal issue #56), The Messiah of Darfur by Abdel Aziz Baraka Sakin (Excerpted on Los Angeles Review of Books, 2015)., and Summer Maize, a collection of short stories by Leila Aboulela (Dar al-Musawwarat, Khartoum, 2017).